Do you remember Apple's "Own a Mac" series of commercials that ran from May 2006 to October 2009?
The ad is short-lived Talisman featuring John Hodgman as the sweet-yet-pretentious PC and Justin Long as the creative, hip Mac.
Those 66 shorts were voted the best advertising campaigns of the past decade by Adweek .
The success of the long-running campaign has led people to believe that Apple must know who its ideal customers are. Surely they do? Because they choose their ideal customer, right from the birth of the Macintosh itself.
This does not mean that everyone Latest Mailing Database responds positively to the ad. While researching this article, I ran across a reviewer who insisted that the campaign had "counterproductive" because the PC character had actually been more appealing to him.
No, campaigns don't backfire (no one runs a series of ads for three years if they don't work). Instead, Apple chooses who not to attract as many options as they wish to convert.
Apple knew they would never get hardcore PC people to switch to Macs. Instead, Apple used these 66 humorous short stories to target those who were more likely to "swing" to Apple, being educated about the benefits of the contrast between the two characters.
Sounds like really good content marketing to me. In fact, given the nature and duration of the Mac campaign, it's more akin to serial web video marketing than traditional advertising.
So the first (and most important) step in our 3-step content marketing strategy is to identify your "who".
Who do you want to attract and talk to, and just as importantly, who do you want to drive in the other direction? It all comes down to your values, first of all.
What are your core values?
Apple's values are fully embodied in the owning a Mac movement - creativity, simplicity and rebellion against the status quo. These core values are always present in the existing "Crazy One" campaign, and before that, the iconic "1984" ad.
Some believe that Apple has lost the ability to innovate because of Steve Jobs. Whether that's true or not, I think Apple's perception has changed for those of us who were initially strongly attracted to because their ads are now, for the first time, trying to reach a wider audience.
Steve certainly wouldn't approve.
Modern marketing is about matching up your ideal customer's worldview. Beyond monopoly, there is no such thing as marketing, appealing to everyone, yet companies still try and often fail.
On the other hand, Patagonia comes to mind. The founders of the outdoor clothing and gear company invented aluminum climbing wedges that can be inserted and removed without damaging rock surfaces. This reflects Patagonia's founding core values:
"Building the best possible product while creating any unnecessary environmental damage."
Of course, not every company has a founding story core value built in. Most businesses exist just to sell what people want, so its management finds that they want to reflect the core values in their market in order to attract the right customers.
For example, there is nothing inherently ethical about ice cream, beyond the ingredients. So Ben & Jerry's through its two founders, which has nothing to do with ice cream's worth.
Not everyone who likes ice cream doesn't necessarily agree with the Pentagon's fight to cut spending and fight climate change, but people who care about those things turned Ben & Jerry into an iconic brand.
It doesn't have to be all sunshine and light, either. If your core values fall in line with a "greed is good" mentality, you're sure to find people out there who share this worldview. You must have it firmly.
You need to understand who you are talking to, yes. But you don't just accept who you find - you choose who you attract.
What is your character like?
In the Owning a Mac movement, Apple literally created something anthropomorphic about a character their ideal "swing" customer aspired to be. It's time to do the same for us.
You can call them characters or avatars if you like - characters I like . This is because the first step is to allow you to create a fictional, generalized representation study of your ideal client.
As the novel goes on, we create a character that will be the protagonist on their own purchasing journey, and your content will help them complete it. Since this journey is based on as much reality as we can glean from our research, it's more of a fictional TV series "based on actual people and things."
When I say the foreground is the protagonist, it means the hero. Your content is a powerful gift, positioning your brand as a guide to help the protagonist complete the journey that solves their problem. If this sounds like Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey to you, nice job - we'll address this aspect in the "what" section of strategy.
This journey won't happen if you want to sell more stuff. It's understanding how prospects think, feel, see and act in the context of solving problems that set them on the journey in the first place.
And don't forget to instill them with the core values that you share. Why would you choose someone you want to help them on their journey out of the ocean of other choices?
Because you've seen the world as they do in a significant way, they'll immediately pick up on shared worldviews throughout the content. Your core value is your secret attraction spell.